Hello, I am Yuri, a first year student of "Preschool and Primary School Pedagogy" at 'St. Kliment Ohridski' Sofia University and a member of the Arete Youth Council. I love helping people and I believe that each of us should help those in need! We should be kind and friendly and fight for a better future! Today, Zhassy and I will tell you about our third national initiative this year. Even before our 5th Fundraising Concert, we received a call from Veselina from BCause Foundation, as we call her. She told us about a noble initiative they are organizing with the Glovo platform. The idea was to distribute packages of food products and cosmetics before the Christmas holidays. Our role, along with other organizations, was to take the initiative to a national level. A quick conversation with the coordinators of the local volunteer chapters followed.
The plan was set! The first step was to pick up the donations from the BCause office and bring them to our office. It took 3 hours and 2 courses. Good thing both offices are in Sofia. We got home late and left early the next day.
The second day of our mission started with getting up at 5. We were a bit late, I admit (Hristo's fault), but the morning ice on the car is hard to break. We should have been quick - a cup of coffee, a bite of banitsa, loading up the car, turning up the Christmas music and getting on the way to our volunteer chapters in Medkovets and Archar. 
And there we went. Rain, fog, potholes and heavy traffic. I also had an online exam, actually my first at university. How was I going to take an exam when you are on the Hemus highway? I couldn't help it but trying everything because we were doing something so beautiful... We arrived in Medkovets in the early afternoon. Our volunteers were still at school. We were greeted by little football players. We walked into the schoolyard and accidentally bumped into one of our volunteers, then entered the building. It was my first time seeing the school. It was quite colorful and filled with students of all ages. Christmas cheer could be felt everywhere. Class hadn't finished yet so we waited in the hallway. The school bell was heard everywhere and suddenly all of the students came out. Immediately we saw our volunteers. After hugs and quick well wishes, we headed to the back entrance of the school, where the car loaded with the donations was waiting for us. The boys as cavaliers took the heavier boxes and left the lighter ones to the girls. 
After unloading the donations, our car became lighter. We talked to the seniors about finals, college entrance exams and universities. Although most of them are excellent students, they are extremely worried. Why are the most prepared the most insecure? It was time to move on to our next chatper - Archar. But before we headed their way we each got a hug, a happy smile and wishes for Happy Holidays. The drive to Archar wasn't very long. By the time we got there we were enjoying the beautiful view and talking about the education system in Bulgaria. We reached Archar in the late afternoon, waited for the volunteers to come by car to pick up the donations. We were greeted by happy smiles and sparkles in their eyes! And there we go again - unloading our car and loading the other. Done! Our part was already done! 
The volunteers were thrilled to show us their "Paradise of Tolerance" - flowers, bushes and trees planted in the schoolyard to make the school a pleasant place for all, a nice place to go to! Hopefully there will be more schools like this... We left a bit tired, but full of emotions for tomorrow. Note: I took my exam!
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My motive to participate in this charity is the thought that good multiplies! During the third day of the initiative we visited the Sofia district "Fakulteta", the town of Dupnitsa and the town of Sapareva Banya. We were late as well, (again Hristo's fault), but as you know Santa Claus is not very punctual either. Slavka came with us even though she was in the ER in the morning for an allergic reaction from the conditions in the dorm. What kind of conditions are these? Entering the neighborhood, the landscape changed. I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, I was outraged with the state government in terms of not taking any measures to provide infrastructure to a Romani neighborhood /as people call it/. And on the other hand, I was also satisfied with the fact that we will make families in need happy! The feeling of being kicked out of society and not having an equal chance is both horrible! I know how it feels. For this reason, I will continue to help so there is a change! Back to the point. Oh, I can't! I really wish we didn't hate each other, didn't kick each other out! The lack of equity made for centuries affects our human value system. It damafes our society, damages people! I don't intend to continue like this! I believe there is a time coming when more young people will believe in themselves and achieve their dreams! And again, back to the story. While unloading Santa's sleigh, we met many people waiting for the donations. They thought we would give them now, but the coordinators of the local chapters decided that they would be distributed in all the localities on the same day - it would be a national initiative. We got a lot of good-natured jokes and a lot of different questions from people. They accepted us immediately. They understood that we were trying to spread good. But every good story has its end. It was time to go to the more remote places to multiply the joy. 
We were just leaving when Prof. Anushka Dimitrova, Slavka's mentor, called to say that she had found a new room for her. We went back to the office and Slavka left to make sure she would have a place to live. We pulled onto the highway and the thoughts in my head fought over which one would take precedence. Equality, equity, education, discrimination, hate, conditions... Where does it all start? We reached Dupnitsa and the coordinator of the volunteer chapter welcomed us with a huge smile and long speeches. We left the donations at the local community centre - the repository of education. Definitely not a job well done by the state government. Community centre left to become a ruin. Such a sight makes us all wonder where we went wrong and why our brains have allowed the good in us to hide in some dark corner. I dearly hope that such a case is not common to other community centres. We realized that youth from Dupnitsa chapter were working on two initiatives at the same time on the same day. One of them was this one and the other was equally beautiful. "Help little Victor!" is what we were hearing from them every other sentence. There is hope that the goodness will be out of the dark corner! We will multiply the goodness! We the youth are the light! 
Our last stop was Sapareva Banya. We were warmly welcomed by the rest of the Dupnitsa volunteer chapter. The father of one of the girls was the cavalier who helped with the heavy boxes. I saw their desire to become university students, and this in turn led to my decision to become a mentor to one of these future student! I can definitely say it was an extremely enlightening and energising day for me! I hope more Roma children realize how precious our time here on earth is and how we choose to live it! I wish all of them to live their dreams as Yuri and I live in ours! And that they in turn will help the next generations to exceed the expectations of the society for the Roma community. And so came December 23rd - the day of giving! We won't be wordy and we will tell the rest of the story with pictures! We decided that we will not show the faces of those we helped!
We hope we all are a little more decent human beings!
Medkovets
Archar
Dupnitsa and Sapareva banya
